USA: JOHN WOO'S LATEST FILM "WINDTALKERS" STARRING NICOLAS CAGE, CHRISTIAN SLATER AND ADAM BEACH PREMIERES IN NEW YORK

Record ID: 392753

  • Title: USA: JOHN WOO'S LATEST FILM "WINDTALKERS" STARRING NICOLAS CAGE, CHRISTIAN SLATER AND ADAM BEACH PREMIERES IN NEW YORK
  • Date: 6th June 2002
  • Summary: NEW YORK NEW YORK UNITED STATES (JUNE 6, 2002) (REUTERS) WIDE: EXTERIOR OF LOEWS CINEMA IN NEW YORK CITY WITH HEAVY RAIN FALLING MV: PHOTO OP WITH CHRISTIAN SLATER, NICOLAS CAGE AND ADAM BEACH ZOOM OUT FROM PHOTO OP TO WIDE SHOT OF RED CARPET SET UP SHOT OF NICOLAS CAGE SCU: SOUNDBITE (English) NICOLAS CAGE SAYING: "I think the main historical importance of 'Windtalkers'
  • Embargoed: 21st June 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABYAW9X0LH71PRMC0UFFZLD98L
  • Story Text: Hollywood stars Nicolas Cage, Christian Slater and Adam Beach hit the red carpet in New York City Thursday (June 6) for the premiere of their movie "Windtalkers". The film brings to the screen the story of the Navajo Marines who created a code used during their operations in the Pacific in World War II.
    In spite of the weather the cast of director John Woo's latest film, "Windtalkers" walked the red carpet in New York City for the film's premiere.
    Nicolas Cage plays John Enders, a World War II Marine assigned to protect a Navajo code talker during the US campaign against Japan in the Pacific. His mission is to protect his code talker, but if he should fall into enemy hands, his duty is to protect the code at all costs.
    The actor talked about the historical meaning of the film: "I think the main historical importance of 'Windtalkers' is that it brings alive the heroic and instrumental involvement of the Navajo nation in World War II as Marines.
    They were really a large part of the reason why we won the war because they developed a code that helped us expedite military air strikes and also medical aid. And they went from island to island, they never went back home until the was over. So we consider the way the Indian culture here in America has been treated over the years, the fact that they would want to fight and become Marines and fight for their country is truly honourable and heroic."
    Canadian-born actor Adam Beach plays Private Ben Yahzee, the Navajo code talker Nicolas Cage must protect throughout their mission. The role was a breakthrough performance in what is perhaps his largest leading role. Beach hopes the film will open Hollywood's doors to other actors of Native American descent:
    "Oh, I don't know, I hope a lot of them can get involved, because there are not a lot of us out there. So hopefully, this would give them a little bit of an idea that they can achieve a certain success if they try acting out. So we'll see."
    One of the film's outstanding features is the realistic battle scenes. "Windtalkers" brings to the screen the horrors of the war with tremendous realism. The battle scenes were an eye-opener for leading star Nicolas Cage:
    "I think it was very realistic, I mean, every day that I was there, even though there were fake bodies, I was surrounded by imagery of violence and carnage, and as an actor - I am only an actor - I try to use my imagination to recreate in my mind what it must have really been like for the true Marines that went over there and I can only say that I find it horrifying and I hope God never lets anything like that happen again, but, you know that's probably not very likely."
    Director John Woo assembled an exceptional team behind the cameras to bring the story to the big screen: "While we made the film, we also had the real code talkers as advisors and a military advisor helping us to make sure the story is right and everything is right."
    And for the cast, preparing for the film was a sometime scary experience: "Oh, yeah, we did a lot. We did a lot of stuff. That was the main thing, sort of, was getting physically prepared for the movie. That was a main theme. It was a great idea of John Woo's to sort of get us all to go to that boot camp. That really helped to, uh...just helped me particularly to feel comfortable in the uniform (off camera: How was it? Was it hard?")...The boot camp was surprisingly hard. The first few days were very scary. They were very, very scary. That was really cool", said actor Christian Slater, who played another Marine assigned to protect a codetalker.
    Fellow cast members Mark Ruffalo and Noah Emmerich also attended the premiere. They played fellow Marines in Nicolas Cage and Adam Beach's squad.
    The underlying theme of the movie is the bond that develops between two men from two different worlds on a difficult mission. But most importantly, the movie portrays the heroism of Native Americans in World War II.
    The film was originally scheduled for release last November but it was delayed by its studio partly because it was unsure how it would be received when the US was carrying out a real-life military operation on Afghanistan.
    "Windtalkers" will open nationwide on June 14th.
    --
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